May’s Speaker – Caney and Elk River Health

This month we will be getting our update from TWRA on the status of the Caney Fork and Elk fisheries. They will cover recent developments with the fishery, data on the health of each fishery, trends they are seeing and what can be done to improve the fishery. The Elk presentation will be by Justin Spaulding from Region II and will cover the recent shocking survey of the trout population. Brandon Simcox will give us an update on the Caney Fork covering the same topics for it.

Justin Spaulding is a streams biologist with TWRA working across 29 counties in middle Tennessee. Prior to joining TWRA, Justin was a fisheries biologist in northeastern Kentucky responsible for several riverine and reservoir trout, bass and Muskellunge fisheries. He obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Tennessee Technological University as part of the Tennessee Cooperative Fishery Research Unit under Dr. Bettoli. Justin currently serves as chair of the Trout Committee of the Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society.

Brandon Simcox is the Statewide Rivers & Streams Coordinator with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA). Brandon received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee in Wildlife and Fisheries Management and a Master’s degree from Auburn University in Fisheries Science. Prior to joining TWRA in 2016, Brandon worked on trout research across the country including Brook Trout restoration in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Bonneville Cutthroat Trout restoration in Utah, Steelhead research in Washington, and Bull Trout monitoring in Oregon.